BrunoBella

Just had another success. Bella was barking at someone walking past the house. I called her without using the ecollar and she raced into my study for her treat This was unheard of last week. I had to keep getting up, moving closer and moving her away from her possie at the front gate.

Meriment. Good luck. I thought it would be hard with multiple dogs (for me, that is) but so far my brain hasn't fried! Loraine. Is that a wire haired GSP or JRT? I'm doing the course by course book bought from K9 Force dog training. Costs $50 plus the ecollar which costs a little more than $50. Do you have an ecollar already? I also improved my dogs recalls substantially by training them on a long lead so they can't get it wrong . ----------- I can hear the rustle of my rubbish bin contents being sniffed again

I know. It all goes so fast. I have spent a lot of time in the last 6 weeks working on my leadershiop their onlead training and their recall. But the work I put in there got nowhere near as fast as the ecollar. And they enjoy it . And I can train the two of them together. Great your up to the mat. I'm still doing the first three actions but have only been going for 5 days. Bella, Bruno and BP ecollars.

Thought I would post about my progress with training my two gsps, bella and bruno in the perfect recall and offlead safety. Both dogs are 90% safe offlead but this is not enough for me to allow them to swim at the beach or the river. So talked to K9 Force (Steve) and decided on a remote training device (dogtra) for two dogs and the training course. I am on week one and am already extraordinarily impressed. It took me two days to memorise the courseware and work out my plan. I am utterly amazed at the low stim (stimulation) level required to train my dogs. They respond exactly the same to a very gently tug on the lead and have big smiles on their faces. We now have to complete series of training under distractions and then proofing the same. After that we can all go to the beach (the offlead dog beach anyway) It is the end of day three today and both dogs are already improving their recall under possum/butterfly pressure without the collar. I can't imagine how good they'll be at the end of four weeks My ecollar device also has a vibration page system which I will use to teach them the signals silently. I might actually have a week where my voice doesn't get hoarse . Thanks Steve for putting me onto this system. If anyone else is doing somthing similar feel free to post here as well. Until my next update BP

Some plants are very hard to kill . Check with a nursery for poisoning tips. I think 100% weed killer (can't remember name of stuff) mixed with soap is the best to kill really stubborn plants. I'm lucky cause the offending plant is in someone else's yard. BP

My two are recovering from a contact allergy as well. They were exposed at a friends house so I'm not sure of the allergen. They had red, warm lumps on their belly, chest, faces and in their ears. They got a steroid (cortisone) shot from the vet as it was so bad and are nearly cleared up now. I found this site which has pictures of offending plants and treatment. Allergies Hope you get this sorted soon BP

This is just a passing phase. I remember it well. You need to increase the rules to get past this stage. Make sure you set some clear boundaries and stick to them. With the lead pulling, I would reduce the walk time, eg, go straight home if he doesn't stop pulling. This will show him it is unacceptable. I also walk off by myself if I ever have to take the dogs home cause they were misbehaving. When he's misbehaving in the house - dominating and humping - I would throw him out for half an hour or so and let him back in. This works very well for mine. With the chasing horses, I would restrict his movement until he grows out of this phase. Mr Bruno is now a lovely, well behaved boy again now . Good luck BellasPerson eta - the principle I follow is to make it easier for dogs to behave correctly by reducing their ability to behave incorrectly and to set myself up to always win.

That does sound strange. I'm pretty sure the illness only lasts 10 days or so. The symptoms still sound like kennel cough rather than an allergy though. You might be the 1 in a million person who's dogs get kennel cough twice! He could have been reinfected, in theory, by another strain of kennel cough. I would recommend complete rest to get his immune system back up to speed. Hope he gets better soon. bp

So far have worked out how to fit the collar and their working level - very low! Now I have to read the manual and work out my training program - being the spreadsheet queen, I can feel another spreadsheet coming on ;) Meanwhile, I am waiting for the rain to stop for half an hour so I can do some doggy stuff. We're all stuck inside at the moment BP

I do remember Myszka. I take both cause they are fantastic on the lead but I still need two hands most of the time to hold both leads. I actually have no use for the flyswatter but thought it was a cool idea even though I do not hit my dogs. If we have any problems I cut down the distractions. I used my backyard to teach both my two to walk nicely on the lead. I had to be a bit innovative while training the dogs initially as I had horrible neighbours who rang the council up cause my dogs ran around the back yard. This meant I couldn't train bruno to stay at home cause he cried for the first 30 seconds and the neighbours would just ring the council again. Instead, I took them both to the park, and tied one up while I trained the other and then swapped. This is also where we learned to all walk nicely together. I now have much better neighbours and could easily leave one at home while I walked the other but haven't had to yet.

I love the flyswatter idea but haven't got any hands left with my two BP

OK, got my stuff, am reading the training course, off we go... Will update with perfect recall stories soon :rolleyes:

Hi Sticks. I did the conversion from the post you referred to 1 oz = 28 gms 1 oz to 1.5 kgs is toxic Your dog is 30 kgs so divide 30 by 1.5 = 20 20 times 28 gms = 560 gms to cause pancreas problems acording to the pinned topic. Hope this helps and I hope Frazer is fine. I would take him to the vet to make sure. BP

:D Well done. Not many people can say their labs are lean and fit . Yours looks leaner cause most of them are too big. It is possible to have them too lean but you can easily check by looking at their rib cage - you should be able to see an outline of their ribs without them poking out completely. The other way to check is to make sure there is a distinct waist line between the ribs and the hips. I keep my GSPs lean as well and get congratulations from the vets. The last guy said it was so unussual to see a GSP at the correct weight and fitness level. With Bruno, who is still growing to adult size, I check his ribs once a week and increase or decrease his food slightly if needed. Some weeks he burns a lot more calories than others and needs extra food. I don't give fatty bones either. Go out and show the other goldie owners how it's done

You sound like you're having as much fun as me. Today it is contact allergy with little red hot lumps on belly, chest, ears and 1 face. Four weeks ago it was a grass seed for bella Two weeks ago it was a splinter for bruno Today all have contact allergy. I am becoming very good friends with my vet

I found this very frustrating as well until I got some help. What I would suggest in the meantime is to cut the lead walks down to say 15 minutes so it is easier for both of you to stay calm and work on your timing with the choker you use now. You could do this 2 or 3 times a day if you have time. One of the tricks I learned was to set yourself up for success. I find that making it as easy and enjoyable as possible helps a great deal as well. Also the dog needs to feel that they are doing a good job. My Bella is very soft so any time I tell her off she gets upset. To make her feel better I have to reward her for any good things she does. Good luck -eta - missing sentence from too much wine

I'm glad I got the dexamethasone now as Bruno's rash started after Bellas and is spreading fast. Now his whole face is covered as well. He must have stuck his nose in the plant . Naughty Puppy. Bella's is turning around and getting better. I shouldn't need to use the Dex long term as the offending plant is a long way away You're right about licking off creams, poodlewrangler. The vet gave me some antibiotic cream in case one of them scratched enough to get an infection. So far I can stop them from scratching by distracting them. I will also ring up and ask the vet about claratyne doses. I take Zyrtec for my allergies so then we can all be on antihistamines together :D . Zyrtec is supposed to make me drowsy but not much chance of that. This is just for in case of next time though. Will see how they improve on the Dex this time. Thanks for all the advice. BellasPerson and Itchy-Spotty Bella and Bruno

Their poor ears and bellies were in a state but hopefully this will fix it. The vet suggested the dexamethasone. If they get it again, what is a good natural preventavive apart from the Malaseb which I can have on hand.

Thanks Peigirl She has now been bathed from head to foot to remove any remaining pollen and given a shot by the vet. Her ears were very red and sore looking. Noticed Bruno has it too so now they've both been treated. He had grey dust on his spots which the vet says might be what caused it. Will get on to the doggy sitter and try to discover what the allergen was so I can make sure they don't get it again.

Bella has been staying at another house for three days while I went away and has come home covered in a red slightly raised and warm rash on her belly, under her arms and in her ear. I assume it's contact dermatitis. I am taking her to the vet shortly but am interested in what people use to treat this in their dogs. Also, she had new bedding - velour type - is this likely to be the cause. Bella regularly gets weepy eyes whenever I do so I know she is prone to allergies. Thanks in advance. BellasPerson

That's great news. It works great for me with everyone. I also teach people not scared of dogs to do this themselves. Happy new year!

Bruno liked to destroy as well. I gave him cardboard boxes to chew. They at least are bio-degradable. Dogs vomit a lot. If its just a little vomit once every few days I wouldn't be concerned. Particularly with the plastic diet! Have fun BP

I feel their skin, for example the face or neck, with my wrist. They should feel a little warmer than your skin but not a lot. Also, dogs with fevers become listless and lie around and sleep all the time. BellasPerson.

GayleK, you are obviously doing a good job training your dog in your own way and I am puzzled about all the comments you have been receiving. I thought - silly me - that everyone was allowed to do whatever they liked as long as their dogs were happy . eta ----- Duh, this always happens and two people post together! If someone doesn't believe in something then why should they be asked to recommend it. That's like asking me to recommend McDonalds.

Screaming kids who sneak out by themselves are the worst! I've had one do this at my house before. When I have children over, I make sure the adult to child ratio is adhered to. I go out to control the dogs and there is one adult for each child. This is just my own rule not everyone has to have this rule Once the same kids are more comfortable, and now that my dogs rarely jump on anyone, I send one adult for all the kids and me for the dogs. This works very well for me. On Christmas day I had a four and a five year old running around the backyard and the dogs played together well away from them. I was very proud of them . For BF, I'm not so sure he needs to turn his back. I prefer people to walk around the yard without looking at, speaking to or touching the dogs. I've heard that otherwise, the dogs think the person is weak. Walking around and ignoring your minions is good pack leadership. And i just realised I miscounted your dogs and you only have three. Have fun